Protective device for printing-presses or the like.



W. Y. DEAR & E. S. COLE.

PROTECTIVE DEVICE FOR PRINTING PRESSBS OR. THE LIKE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 11,1911.

Patented July 29, 1913.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM Y. DEAR ANDEDWINS.'CO'IJE, OF JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNORSTO THE JERSEY CITY iPRINTING COMPANY, OF. JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY, ACORPO- RATION OF 'NEW JERSEY.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 29,1913.

Application filed July 11, 1911. Seria1=No. 637,912.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known thatv we, WILLIAM Y. DEAR and EDWIN S. CoLE, citizens of theUnited States, residing in the city of Jersey City, county of Hudson,State of New Jersey, haveinvented. certain new and useful Improvementsin Protective Devices for PrintingPresse's or the Like, of which thefollowing is a specification.

Cur invention relates to means for preventing damage to machinesthrough'which there normally passes a ribbon of flexible material, thebreaking of which while the machine is in motion is likely to clog anddisarrange the elements of the mechanism.

Our invention is particularly applicable to printing presses and thelike, whereina band of flexible material, the paper in the case of aprinting press, is continuously passing through the machine. It is acommon experience in printing oiiices to have the paper break afterbeing threaded up through the press, and thccontinued operation of thepress after the breakage occurs not only causes loss of stock in theshape of damaged paper, but isalso likely to lead to more seriousconsequences in the way of actual breaking of parts of the machine, suchas rollers or guides between which the paper passes.

The function of our device is to provide.

mechanism which will be sensitive to the breaking of the paper and whichwill cause the immediate stoppage of the press when such an accidentoccurs.

In the accompanying drawings which form a part of this specification,Flgure 1 is a side elevation of the protective device in theposition-which it assumes in the normal operation of the printing pressor other mechanism to which it isattached; Fig. 2 is a top view of Fig.1; Fig. 3 is a side view similar to Fig. 2, showing the position WhlChthe device assumes in case of a break of the paper or other materialbeing fed.through the machine; Fig. 4 is a diagrammatlc viewillustrating the device in operation and 1ndicating the electricalcircuits which it controls.

Referring to the drawings in detail, the numeral 1 designates astationary shaft secured to any suitable portion of. the frame work ofthe press. Rotatably mounted on this h ft is a col r 2 arrying he armuponthe other extremity of which is rota.- tably mounted a roller 4,which, in the nor mal operation of the press, is adapted to bear uponand be supported by the paper 5, the axis of thearm being inclined tothe vertical, as indicated in Fig. 1. A collar 6 is secured to the shaft1 in a fixed position ad jacent to the rotatable collar 2,'and anothercollar 7 prevents the translation of the rotatable collar in the otherdirection along the shaft 1, so that the rotatable collar is free tomove about its axis, but is allowed no substantial lateral movement. Acontact spring 8 of spring brass or other suitable material is securedat 9 to the collar 6 and has an arm portion extending over the r0-tatable collar. The free end of this spring engages a cam 11 of fiber orother insulating material, which is fastened to the periphery of therotatable collar. The portion 12 of this cam of shortest radius normallyforms the seat for the free end' of the contact spring, but rotation ofthe arm 3 in the direction of the arrow will cause the portion 1310flonger radius to force the end of the contact spring outward from thecenter of the shaft into electrical contact with a ring 14 surroundingthe collar 6 and secured to it by the screws 15. Washers and bushings 16of fiber orother insulating material are provided for preventingelectrical contact between the ring 14 and the collar 6. It will be seenthat the ring 14 further acts as a guard or shield to protect thecontact spring.

It will be evident that the breaking of the paper 5 in the course of itstravels over the rollers 17 will cause the arm to drop by gravity in thedirection of the arrow, since the supporting surface of the paper istaken away. Through this rotation the insulating cam will force thespring to contact with the ring 14 and anelect-rical circuit will becompleted from spring 8, through wire 18, battery 19, or other source ofelectro-motive force, wire 20, solenoid 21, or othenmeans for closing anauxihary circuit, wire 22,

lamp 23, wire 2 1, and ring 14. The closing.

of this circuit will cause the solenoid 21, diagrammatically illustratedin Fig. 4, or any other a propriate device which may be substituted inits place, to close an auxihary circuit 25, which is connected to anysuitable well known mechanism for stopping a press by the closing of anelectric c rcuit, or, if it is desired, the action of the solenoid maybe" to open the secondary or auxiliary circuit, performing the samefunction in a manner which is well known to the artand which need not bedescribed here.

Inasmuch as the paper may break at any oneof a number of points in alarge press, it is desirable to equip the press with a number ofprotective devices at several different points in the course of thepaper through the machine. These are connected across the same circuitin multiple, as illustrated in Fig. 4, by the wires 26 and 27 connectedat 28 and 29, respectively, to the main circuit. Each circuit has itsown telltale lamp 30 which will light when that particular circuit, andonly when that partircular circuit, is closed, thus indicating to thepressman at a glance the location of the trouble. In the absence ofthese tell-tale signal lamps, any one of a half dozen protective devicesmight operate and cause the stoppage of the press, and it would requirean extended search in the case of a complicated press'to discover wherethe break had occurred.

While we have described our invention as applied to a printing press, itwill be obvious that it may be used in connection with any one of anumber of devices, and we do not desire to be limited either to theparticular construction set forth and described or to the applicationshown.

Having thus described our invention, we claim:

1. A protective device for printing presses or the like comprising amovable element normally supported by material fed through the press, aresilient contact normally stationary, a second contact normallyelectrically insulated from, the first and surrounding the same to forma shield therefor, said contacts forming a portion of an electricallyactuated stop device for said press, and means for causing the resilientcontact to engage the second contact when said supporting material isderanged.

2. A protective device for printing presses or the like comprising amovable element normally supported by material fed through the press, apair of contacts forming a portion of an electrically actuated stopdevice for said press, means for altering the position of said contactswhen said movable element is displaced, one of said contacts surroundingand forming a shield for the other contact.

7 5 A protective device for printing presses or. the like comprising amovable element having a member rotatable about an axis, a

ported by material fed through the pressv for holding said rotatablemember in a predetermined position.

4. ,A protective device for printing presses or the like comprising amovable element normally supported by material fed througl'i the press,a stationary ring, a movable con tact mounted within the limits of saidring and normally stationary, said ring and contact forming a portion ofan electrically actuated stop device for said press, and means foraltering the relative position of said contacts when said movableelement is displaced.

5. A protective device for printing presses or the like comprising amovable element having a collar rotatable about an axis, a cam surfaceon saidcollar, a contact spring engaging said cam surface, an armextending from said collar normally bearing upon and supported bymaterial fed through the press, the center of gravity of the movableelement being such as to cause said element to rotate about its axiswhen the supporting material is removed, whereby the cam surface iscaused to displace said contact spring.

6. A protective device for printing presses or the like comprising acollar rotatable about an axis, a fixed collar concentric with andspaced from said rotatable collar, -a cam surface on said rotatablecollar, a fixed contact spring engaging said cam surface, an armextending from said rotatable collar,

a roller on said arm normally bearing upon and supported by material fedthrough the press, the center of gravity of the rotatable collar and armbeing such as to cause the same to rotate about its axis when thesupporting material is removed, and thereby cause the contact spring tobe forced into contact with said fixed collar, making electrical contacttherewith.

WILLIAM Y. DEAR. EDWIN S. COLE. Witnesses:

GERALD E. 'llnawninrcnn, dorm S. Warsorr.

